technical overview
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my system configuration:

athlon 1800xp, 512mb ram
ati radeon 8500
creative labs sound blaster live! value
winxp pro

the installation is on disc 2. it would not install, as it kept trying to find a disc in drive g:\; trying to run the installation in
compatibility mode was unsuccessful as well. since i didn't know what exactly was installed how by the script, i simply copied the contents of the 2nd cd to my t7g directory. however, the game would still not run. again, no luck with compatibility mode. through a google search, i found out that trilobyte had made available a patch that would allow the game to run in windows - either windowed or full-screen. i downloaded the patch , extracted the contents to my t7g directory, and was thrilled to find that it worked!

technical glitches during the game:
- not the game itself, but the "shell" that allowed it to work in windows would occasionally [blip] out on me, reporting one of two errors. don't remember the exact verbiage, but my only option was to click on OK. i saved before and after every puzzle.
- the sound was a little out-of-synch, but did not detract substantially from my overall experience. please note that my opinion might be different if i were playing the game for the very first time. from a strictly objective standpoint, however, this trouble does make one or two puzzles just a little bit more... puzzling (read: infuriating).

gameplay
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after a rather interesting introduction to stauf, a seemingly insane, evil toymaker, i begin my quest to solve the mystery of this house. along the way, i encounter several puzzles, solving which unlocks new rooms for me.

i found it incredibly convenient that stauf is a toymaker. it's a wonderful premise, but it also means that i can't really say that some of the puzzles didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. ok, most of the puzzles, but i'll just chalk that up to being completely obtuse.

as this doesn't spoil anything, i will tell you one thing: the puzzle located in the laboratory does not need to be solved to advance through the game. so what, you say, since when do i solve puzzles because i have to? half the fun is finding all the things you *can* do even though you don't *have* to. to that i say that no walkthrough can walk you through this puzzle. you're on your own.

graphics
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impressive. interesting use of video in pre-rendered 3d environments. didn't experience any glitches at all, most likely because free movement is not possible.

sound
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i had great difficulty hearing the dialogue over the music in the background.

something i will mention, however, is that cutting back on the hardware acceleration helped in synching the sound a lot...

- control panel >> sounds and audio devices.
- volume >> speaker settings >> advanced...
- performance >> hardware acceleration

shoud be set to full by default, i experimented with the settings and found "basic" to work best. it didn't eliminate the problem
completely, but it definitely helped.

replay value
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i played this game again after nearly 10 years. it was fun, but i did remember some of the solutions from the first time i played. the story is extremely linear, so there's really nothing new to discover once you've solved the mystery. if i play it again, it'll probably be for its nostalgic value, in another 10 years.

Well hello and welcome Gita I was thinking about ventriloquist dummies and clowns probably than mimes when you made your comments elsewhere about the creepiness of seeing 3D renderings of real people. Maybe mimes are more fanciful than scary. There's no edit function - or I am brain dead - on those posts - so mimes it was. You still crack me up - I love reading surprise observations that just hit you in a delicious sort of way

Laura

hi there, laura, and thank you

*blush* shucks.. thanks again

i understand this patch was widely available at one time, but when i went to look for it, i only found it at a french site that was about to go down permanently. to facilitate its accessibility to other gamers, therefore, i'm hosting it on my own site.

actually i don't recall using a compatibility mode at all. i'm almost certain, however, that the problems i encountered aren't the game's fault. that's the main problem with developing for the pc - there are so many different configurations out there, it's almost inevitable that every user will run into one glitch or another. no matter, tho'. fortunately for me, i'm anal enough to have compulsively saved after solving every puzzle, and restarting the game was never more difficult than clicking on its shortcut. it could've been much worse, so i'm happy.

oh, now you're getting me all jealous! i have it saved to my hard drive, but haven't seen it yet. i had to uninstall quicktime 6 and install quicktime 3 to get morpheus to run, which is the game i'm getting ready to play next. i can't re-install QT6 until i'm done, so the video will have to wait until then I was thinking about ventriloquist dummies and clowns probably than mimes when you made your comments elsewhere about the creepiness of seeing 3D renderings of real people. Maybe mimes are more fanciful than scary. There's no edit function - or I am brain dead - on those posts - so mimes it was. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="3" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">ok. let me address this one at a time:

- the talent of a ventriloquist is something i find absolutely fascinating. however, yes, the dummies do kinda freak me out.
- now clowns, on the other hand... that's a mixed bag. regular circus clowns - no. they creep me out too. i would've made that a general statement encompassing all clowns, save for the fact that i was fortunate enough to have seen a cirque du soleil performance some time ago (one of the best experiences *ever*); i can safely say that the clowns in *their* troupe are the exception

btw, i think i may have mis-stated my opinion. i don't mind 3d characters, when they're done well. i love all the 3d animated films out there, and was rather amazed by what square pictures accomplished in the final fantasy movie. however, personal computers are obviously unable to handle that sort of quality in a game, and i'm certain the production cost of making such a game would also be far higher than the relatively low poly-count models that are currently used. it's that low-quality stuff that creeps me out, when it's supposed to look real. it's really cool when it's *not* - like the screenshots i've seen of grim fandango.

*blush* you flatter me. you won't stop, will you?

.g, resident insomniac and queen of the run-on sentence